"I will at least say that for him," she prattled; "I shouldn't have got sick of the sight of him; out of the house at half-past nine he'd have been, and that would have been the end of him till six o'clock; not always bumping into you like Frank. I suppose you know Miss Levey's there too, at his Company? He's getting on there like anything. So's Mr. Mackie; you remember Mr. Mackie? He takes the auction himself now on Mondays and Thursdays; in Oxford Street; everybody stops as they walk past; he's a caution, is Mr. Mackie, I can tell you! But of course Jeff"--here she became mysterious, and nodded once or twice--"Jeff's on the way up--up. It's a different class of work from Mr. Mackie's; better, as you might say; he's in the Confidential Exchange Department, Miriam says----" "How is Miss Levey?" Louie asked, at a loss what else to say. "Oh, in the pink--but the soul's the chief thing; what shall it profit a man; and I don't know whether her soul's in the pink. Do you always _hold_ with the Church of England, Louie?" she asked earnestly. There was nothing to be made of her. She ran on weakly, irresponsibly, from trifle to trifle, and it was at Louie's own risk that she gave her talk any significance at all.... Suddenly she insisted that she herself had broken the engagement, not he. She spoke of his place in the Company--it was the Freight and Ballast Company; it appeared to be a "permanency." He was getting on--on; _he_ wouldn't polish brasses and take the lodgers' boots to be mended!... As she talked, Louie looked round the poor, neat little bedroom. It had framed texts and a picture of a lady shipwrecked in a nightgown; this was entitled "Simply to Thy Cross I cling." There was a good deal of muslin about, tied back with flyblown bows. But suddenly Kitty seemed to remember something. Louie was once more gently patting the hand on the counterpane when she gave a quick little clutch and sat up. "They wrote to you to come, didn't they?" she asked, looking hard at Louie. "Yes, dear. I'd have come sooner if I'd known. The letter was sent on from Mortlake Road. I came as soon as I got it." "That's all right," said Kitty, nodding mysteriously again. "I want to talk to you. Is the door shut?" "Yes; but don't talk. Let me talk to you instead." "No; there's something I want to say, and I shall forget it if I don't say it now.... You heard about it, didn't you? I don't mean the glad tidings for all----" "Lie down, dear." (Kitty was squatting up in bed.) "Tell me the next time I come. I'll come again." "No, I must tell you now. Though Jeff's sins be as scarlet. Of course you heard about Archie?" "Hush."